'''Swedish''' is a [[Scandinavia]]n language, closely related to [[Norwegian phrasebook|Norwegian]] and [[Danish phrasebook|Danish]] (and through them, related to [[Icelandic phrasebook|Icelandic]]). Spoken by over 9 million people, Swedish is the national language of [[Sweden]] and the official language of the [[Åland|Åland Islands]]. It is also an official language of [[Finland]] (along with [[Finnish phrasebook|Finnish]]), though only the mother tongue for about 6 percent of Finns.

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'''Swedish''' is a North Germanic language, closely related to [[Norwegian phrasebook|Norwegian]] and [[Danish phrasebook|Danish]] (and through them, related to [[Icelandic phrasebook|Icelandic]]). Spoken by over 9 million people, Swedish is the national language of [[Sweden]] and the official language of the [[Åland|Åland Islands]]. It is also an official language of [[Finland]] (along with [[Finnish phrasebook|Finnish]]), though only the mother tongue for about 6 percent of Finns.

==Pronunciation guide==

==Pronunciation guide==

===Vowels===

===Vowels===

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Swedish is notorious for its extra vowel sounds, giving Swedish nine (!) different vowels. Most are pronounced differently than English, and some don't even have a true English equivalent; some may be close, but sound like a combination of two vowel sounds. This can be very confusing, but you probably won't hear enough Swedish to know the difference, as they can be very slight. If you don't get it exactly, you may still be understood. All vowels can be pronounced short or long which means that Swedish has 17 different vowel sounds (short e and short ä is the same).

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Swedish is notorious for its extra vowel sounds, giving Swedish nine (!) different vowels. Most are pronounced differently than English, and some don't even have a true English equivalent; some may be close, but sound like a combination of two vowel sounds. This can be very confusing, but you probably won't hear enough Swedish to know the difference, as they can be very slight. If you don't get it exactly, you may still be understood. All vowels can be pronounced short or long which means that Swedish has 17 different vowel sounds (short e and short ä is almost the same in some places of the country - especially in the Stockholm dialect). This rule does not apply for most of the dialects in the Norrland region.

Please note: in Swedish 'y' is a vowel and not a consonant.

Please note: in Swedish 'y' is a vowel and not a consonant.

Line 11:

Line 11:

; e : short: like 'e' in "bed" or "pen." long: like 'ey' in "hey," but longer. Can sometimes sound slightly like "Ay-uh;" because the Swedish pronounciation is longer. E's are usually pronounced at the end of a word, such as in "''kaffe''" (pronounced kaff-eh, meaning coffee), unlike English where e's at the end of a word are usually silent.

; e : short: like 'e' in "bed" or "pen." long: like 'ey' in "hey," but longer. Can sometimes sound slightly like "Ay-uh;" because the Swedish pronounciation is longer. E's are usually pronounced at the end of a word, such as in "''kaffe''" (pronounced kaff-eh, meaning coffee), unlike English where e's at the end of a word are usually silent.

; i : short: like 'i' in "India" long: like 'i' in "machine." Fairly straightforward.

; i : short: like 'i' in "India" long: like 'i' in "machine." Fairly straightforward.

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; o : like 'u' in "put," but not exactly. It's somewhere between that and the 'o' in "broken" in actuality.

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; o : like 'u' in "put," but not exactly. It's somewhere between that and the 'o' in "broken" in actuality. The o in "fool" is similar too.

; u : like 'ou' in "you."

; u : like 'ou' in "you."

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; y : like 'y' in "Nitroglycerin." This is one of the harder ones to learn. Easiest way is to round your lips (important) and say "bee." It may sound closer to an English short 'i' sound to some people.

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; y : a bit like 'y' in "Nitroglycerin." This is one of the harder ones to learn. Easiest way is to pout your lips (important) and say "bee." It may sound closer to an English short 'i' sound to some people.

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; å : like 'au' in "Paul" generally speaking.

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; å : like 'au' in "Paul" generally speaking, or lika the a in "Tall".

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; &auml; : identical to the ''ä'' in German (sounds like an "e" as in "bet". Pronounced with more bass if preceding r.

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; &auml; : like "a" in "mare" (identical to the ''ä'' in German). Pronounced with more bass if preceding r.

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; &ouml; : Same as in German. Pronounced with more bass if preceding r.

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; &ouml; : somewhat like a mix between the "io" in "Motion", and the "oo" in "Book". Pronounced with more bass if preceding r. The u in "Turn" is also close depending on what word it's in.

===Consonants===

===Consonants===

Line 34:

Line 34:

; p : like 'p' in "pig"

; p : like 'p' in "pig"

; q : like 'q' in "quest" (with "u", almost always)

; q : like 'q' in "quest" (with "u", almost always)

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; r : like 'r' in "row", and like 'r' in "feather." Swedes tend to roll their r's in certain words. 'Rs' is pronounced 'sh'.

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; r : like 'r' in "row", and like 'r' in "feather." Swedes tend to roll their r's in certain words. 'Rs' is pronounced 'sh'. (Not comparable to an English 'r'. Sounds more like a Spanish one.)

; s : like 'ss' in "hiss," but 'skj' and 'stj' are pronounced 'sh.' 'Sj' is hard for non-native speakers - try rounding your lips and saying "hwoo" to get the gist of it. 'Sk' is also pronounced this way before soft vowels.

; s : like 'ss' in "hiss," but 'skj' and 'stj' are pronounced 'sh.' 'Sj' is hard for non-native speakers - try rounding your lips and saying "hwoo" to get the gist of it. 'Sk' is also pronounced this way before soft vowels.

; t : like 't' in "top," but 'tj' is pronounced 'sh'

; t : like 't' in "top," but 'tj' is pronounced 'sh'

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Line 44:

==Phrase list==

==Phrase list==

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==Places==

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===Places===

If going to Sweden, especially if going to any other place than Stockholm, probably the most important thing you should know in Swedish is the name of the place you are going to. Most people speak very good, fluent English, but are oblivious about the English pronunciation of the town/city you may want to visit - and this may cause significant issues at train stations, airports or bus stations since many places have pronunciations that are very different from what an English speaker would expect when looking at the written name.

If going to Sweden, especially if going to any other place than Stockholm, probably the most important thing you should know in Swedish is the name of the place you are going to. Most people speak very good, fluent English, but are oblivious about the English pronunciation of the town/city you may want to visit - and this may cause significant issues at train stations, airports or bus stations since many places have pronunciations that are very different from what an English speaker would expect when looking at the written name.

Line 51:

Line 51:

; Umeå: (YOU-meh-oh, or YOU-meh in the northern accent that is spoken close to Umeå). Note that neither pronunciations here are really close approximations of the actual way a Swede will pronounce, but the å sound really has no correspondent in most standard English accents. Do not pronounce it Oo-mej-aah, as nobody will understand you, and you will be asked to show on the map)

; Umeå: (YOU-meh-oh, or YOU-meh in the northern accent that is spoken close to Umeå). Note that neither pronunciations here are really close approximations of the actual way a Swede will pronounce, but the å sound really has no correspondent in most standard English accents. Do not pronounce it Oo-mej-aah, as nobody will understand you, and you will be asked to show on the map)

; Luleå: (Lyu-leh-oh). Lyu sounds close to how some dialects of English would read the lu in luminous, or to the way others would read the lew in lewd. If you find this hard, try to pronounce Skellefteå (Huell-eff-teh-oh or Shell-eff-teh-oh). Note that the u and the second h in the first pronunciation are nearly unsounded.

; Luleå: (Lyu-leh-oh). Lyu sounds close to how some dialects of English would read the lu in luminous, or to the way others would read the lew in lewd. If you find this hard, try to pronounce Skellefteå (Huell-eff-teh-oh or Shell-eff-teh-oh). Note that the u and the second h in the first pronunciation are nearly unsounded.

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; Vaxjö: (Vac h'oh), as if the two would be different words. The oh sound is close to the French eau, so don't stress the o in 'ho' though (as you would do in ho-ho-ho). Don't pronounce it as Vaks-joe, since no one will have any clue what that is.

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; Växjö: (Vac h'oh), as if the two would be different words. The oh sound is close to the French eau, so don't stress the o in 'ho' though (as you would do in ho-ho-ho). Don't pronounce it as Vaks-joe, since no one will have any clue what that is.

; Köping: (is pronounced almost like English 'shopping'). There are many köpings in Sweden (Norrköping, Nyköping, Köping, Söderköping), and in all, the köping part is pronounced identically. Nyköping (the small Ryanair airport for Stockholm, also known as Skavsta) is pronounced Ne-Shopping, with the Ne as in Nemo.

; Köping: (is pronounced almost like English 'shopping'). There are many köpings in Sweden (Norrköping, Nyköping, Köping, Söderköping), and in all, the köping part is pronounced identically. Nyköping (the small Ryanair airport for Stockholm, also known as Skavsta) is pronounced Ne-Shopping, with the Ne as in Nemo.

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; Öland: (eau-land) and ; Åland: (O'-land), two rather large islands off the Eastern coast of Sweden. For an English speaker, their pronunciation can sound very, very similar. A confusion between the two can easily be a disaster, so if in doubt over the exact pronunciation, either write them down, or refer to something that would distinguish them (their biggest cities, Åland to be the 'Finnish island' or the 'Ferry island', Öland the 'Swedish island' or the 'Island with the bridge'), so that you don't accidentally end up in the wrong place.

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; Öland: (eau-land) and

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; Götaland: (Yottalaand) and '''Gotland''': (Got laand or even 'Got land', as it would sound in English). Again two very different places in Sweden, this time looking very different in spelling, but pronounced in a very different fashion.

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; Åland: (O'-land), two rather large islands off the Eastern coast of Sweden. For an English speaker, their pronunciation can sound very, very similar. A confusion between the two can easily be a disaster, so if in doubt over the exact pronunciation, either write them down, or refer to something that would distinguish them (their biggest cities, Åland to be the 'Finnish island' or the 'Ferry island', Öland the 'Swedish island' or the 'Island with the bridge'), so that you don't accidentally end up in the wrong place.

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If taking the train or plane to '''Copenhagen''', remember the Swedish spelling is '''Köpenhamn''', and is pronounced Shop-en-hamn. As most trainstations do not have public announcements or information boards in English, this may be useful. Similarly, in Sweden, '''Helsinki''' is always referred to as '''Helsingfors''' (Helsing-forsh), and all roadsigns and announcements within Sweden use this term. If going to Norway, Oslo is pronounced in a fashion rather close to the one in English.

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; Götaland: (Yootalaand) and

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; Gotland: (Got laand or even 'Got land', as it would sound in English). Again two very different places in Sweden, this time looking very different in spelling, but pronounced in a very different fashion.

; Åre: - Oh-reh, not Ah-reh.

; Åre: - Oh-reh, not Ah-reh.

Many other places are pronounced in rather simpler, less tongue twisting fashions. Stockholm, Kiruna, Malmö sound in Swedish very much like they do English.

Many other places are pronounced in rather simpler, less tongue twisting fashions. Stockholm, Kiruna, Malmö sound in Swedish very much like they do English.

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If taking the train or plane to '''Copenhagen''', remember the Swedish spelling is '''Köpenhamn''', and is pronounced Shop-en-hamn. As most trainstations do not have public announcements or information boards in English, this may be useful. Similarly, in Sweden, '''Helsinki''' is always referred to as '''Helsingfors''' (Helsing-forsh), and all roadsigns and announcements within Sweden use this term. If going to Norway, Oslo is pronounced in a fashion rather close to the one in English. And if you want to take the ferry to '''Turku''' in Finland, remember the Swedes call the city '''Åbo''' (a close pronounciation being Oh-boh).

===Basics===

===Basics===

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{{infobox|Swedish, please|Please note that the Swedish language has no exact match for the English word "please". This means that English-speaking visitors can be offended since Swedes in general tend to leave out the word in question when they speak English. This does not, however, mean that Swedes are rude, but the significance of the word "please" is usually put differently, either through a different sentence or by the tone of the voice. An example: An English-speaking person walks into a pub and says "May I have a pint of beer, please". A Swede in the same situation would use the phrase "Jag skulle vilja ha en öl, tack", i.e. "I would like to have a beer, thanks".}}

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{{infobox|Swedish, please|Please note that the Swedish language has no exact match for the English word "please". This means that English-speaking visitors can be offended since Swedes in general tend to leave out the word in question when they speak English. This does not, however, mean that Swedes are rude, but the significance of the word "please" is usually put differently, either through a different sentence or by the tone of the voice. An example: An English-speaking person walks into a pub and says "May I have a pint of beer, please". A Swede in the same situation would use the phrase 'Kan jag få en öl, tack", i.e. "I would like to have a beer, thanks".}}

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; Hello. : God dag. (''Good dahg'')

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; Hello. : Hej. (''HAY''). Also hejsan (''haysan''). In informal contexts, you can also use tjena (''Schenah - soft e''), or tja (''Scheh''')

Except for the big cities, this will draw a blank stare from the waiter. Most Swedes are aware that pork is not kosher, but apart from that, almost all non-Jewish Swedes would not have any idea about kosher rules. Jews constitute roughly 0.15% of the Swedish population, and outside the big cites the great majority of Swedes have never met a Jew.

Revision as of 18:56, 12 December 2013

Swedish is a North Germanic language, closely related to Norwegian and Danish (and through them, related to Icelandic). Spoken by over 9 million people, Swedish is the national language of Sweden and the official language of the Åland Islands. It is also an official language of Finland (along with Finnish), though only the mother tongue for about 6 percent of Finns.

Pronunciation guide

Vowels

Swedish is notorious for its extra vowel sounds, giving Swedish nine (!) different vowels. Most are pronounced differently than English, and some don't even have a true English equivalent; some may be close, but sound like a combination of two vowel sounds. This can be very confusing, but you probably won't hear enough Swedish to know the difference, as they can be very slight. If you don't get it exactly, you may still be understood. All vowels can be pronounced short or long which means that Swedish has 17 different vowel sounds (short e and short ä is almost the same in some places of the country - especially in the Stockholm dialect). This rule does not apply for most of the dialects in the Norrland region.

Please note: in Swedish 'y' is a vowel and not a consonant.

a

like 'a' in "father."

e

short: like 'e' in "bed" or "pen." long: like 'ey' in "hey," but longer. Can sometimes sound slightly like "Ay-uh;" because the Swedish pronounciation is longer. E's are usually pronounced at the end of a word, such as in "kaffe" (pronounced kaff-eh, meaning coffee), unlike English where e's at the end of a word are usually silent.

i

short: like 'i' in "India" long: like 'i' in "machine." Fairly straightforward.

o

like 'u' in "put," but not exactly. It's somewhere between that and the 'o' in "broken" in actuality. The o in "fool" is similar too.

u

like 'ou' in "you."

y

a bit like 'y' in "Nitroglycerin." This is one of the harder ones to learn. Easiest way is to pout your lips (important) and say "bee." It may sound closer to an English short 'i' sound to some people.

å

like 'au' in "Paul" generally speaking, or lika the a in "Tall".

ä

like "a" in "mare" (identical to the ä in German). Pronounced with more bass if preceding r.

ö

somewhat like a mix between the "io" in "Motion", and the "oo" in "Book". Pronounced with more bass if preceding r. The u in "Turn" is also close depending on what word it's in.

Consonants

Consonants are closer to English, but some combinations can be downright tricky, i.e. 'sj' in "sjutton." Some pronunciations depend on the vowel following it, and so the vowels are divided into "soft" and "hard" vowels. A, o, u, and å are the hard vowels, and e, i, y, ä, and ö are the soft vowels.

b

like 'b' in "bed"

c

like 'c' in "cat", but a 'ch' combination is pronounced like English 'sh.' Sometimes 's' like the first c in circus.

d

like 'd' in "dog"

f

like 'f' in "for"

g

like 'g' in "go", when preceding a hard vowel, like 'y' in "yellow" when preceding a soft vowel. A 'gn' pronunciation is pronounced like an English 'g', except for when it follows a vowel, in which case it is pronounced 'ngn.'

h

like 'h' in "help"

j

like 'y' in "yell," and if there is a d, g, or h before a 'j' then that letter is silent.

k

like 'k' in "king" before a hard vowel, like 'sh' before a soft one. 'Kj' is pronounced 'sh' as well

l

like 'l' in "love," but 'lj' is pronounced like a 'y'

m

like 'm' in "mother"

n

like 'n' in "nice"

p

like 'p' in "pig"

q

like 'q' in "quest" (with "u", almost always)

r

like 'r' in "row", and like 'r' in "feather." Swedes tend to roll their r's in certain words. 'Rs' is pronounced 'sh'. (Not comparable to an English 'r'. Sounds more like a Spanish one.)

s

like 'ss' in "hiss," but 'skj' and 'stj' are pronounced 'sh.' 'Sj' is hard for non-native speakers - try rounding your lips and saying "hwoo" to get the gist of it. 'Sk' is also pronounced this way before soft vowels.

t

like 't' in "top," but 'tj' is pronounced 'sh'

v

like 'v' in "victory"

w

like 'v' in "victor," but w's in Swedish are uncommon.

x

like 'cks' in "kicks", like 'ehcks' at beginning of a word.

z

like 's' in "saw"

Phrase list

Places

If going to Sweden, especially if going to any other place than Stockholm, probably the most important thing you should know in Swedish is the name of the place you are going to. Most people speak very good, fluent English, but are oblivious about the English pronunciation of the town/city you may want to visit - and this may cause significant issues at train stations, airports or bus stations since many places have pronunciations that are very different from what an English speaker would expect when looking at the written name.

Gothenburg

Göteborg (YOO-te-bore-eh) with the 'te' as in Television or ten. Some may understand the English pronunciation, but don't take that for granted.

Umeå

(YOU-meh-oh, or YOU-meh in the northern accent that is spoken close to Umeå). Note that neither pronunciations here are really close approximations of the actual way a Swede will pronounce, but the å sound really has no correspondent in most standard English accents. Do not pronounce it Oo-mej-aah, as nobody will understand you, and you will be asked to show on the map)

Luleå

(Lyu-leh-oh). Lyu sounds close to how some dialects of English would read the lu in luminous, or to the way others would read the lew in lewd. If you find this hard, try to pronounce Skellefteå (Huell-eff-teh-oh or Shell-eff-teh-oh). Note that the u and the second h in the first pronunciation are nearly unsounded.

Växjö

(Vac h'oh), as if the two would be different words. The oh sound is close to the French eau, so don't stress the o in 'ho' though (as you would do in ho-ho-ho). Don't pronounce it as Vaks-joe, since no one will have any clue what that is.

Köping

(is pronounced almost like English 'shopping'). There are many köpings in Sweden (Norrköping, Nyköping, Köping, Söderköping), and in all, the köping part is pronounced identically. Nyköping (the small Ryanair airport for Stockholm, also known as Skavsta) is pronounced Ne-Shopping, with the Ne as in Nemo.

Öland

(eau-land) and

Åland

(O'-land), two rather large islands off the Eastern coast of Sweden. For an English speaker, their pronunciation can sound very, very similar. A confusion between the two can easily be a disaster, so if in doubt over the exact pronunciation, either write them down, or refer to something that would distinguish them (their biggest cities, Åland to be the 'Finnish island' or the 'Ferry island', Öland the 'Swedish island' or the 'Island with the bridge'), so that you don't accidentally end up in the wrong place.

Götaland

(Yootalaand) and

Gotland

(Got laand or even 'Got land', as it would sound in English). Again two very different places in Sweden, this time looking very different in spelling, but pronounced in a very different fashion.

Åre

- Oh-reh, not Ah-reh.

Many other places are pronounced in rather simpler, less tongue twisting fashions. Stockholm, Kiruna, Malmö sound in Swedish very much like they do English.
If taking the train or plane to Copenhagen, remember the Swedish spelling is Köpenhamn, and is pronounced Shop-en-hamn. As most trainstations do not have public announcements or information boards in English, this may be useful. Similarly, in Sweden, Helsinki is always referred to as Helsingfors (Helsing-forsh), and all roadsigns and announcements within Sweden use this term. If going to Norway, Oslo is pronounced in a fashion rather close to the one in English. And if you want to take the ferry to Turku in Finland, remember the Swedes call the city Åbo (a close pronounciation being Oh-boh).

Basics

Swedish, please
Please note that the Swedish language has no exact match for the English word "please". This means that English-speaking visitors can be offended since Swedes in general tend to leave out the word in question when they speak English. This does not, however, mean that Swedes are rude, but the significance of the word "please" is usually put differently, either through a different sentence or by the tone of the voice. An example: An English-speaking person walks into a pub and says "May I have a pint of beer, please". A Swede in the same situation would use the phrase 'Kan jag få en öl, tack", i.e. "I would like to have a beer, thanks".

Hello.

Hej. (HAY). Also hejsan (haysan). In informal contexts, you can also use tjena (Schenah - soft e), or tja (Scheh')

Time

now

nu (noo)

later

senare (seenareh)

before

före (fureh)

morning

morgon (mohrgon)

afternoon

eftermiddag (ehftermeedag)

evening

kväll (kvehll)

night

natt (nat)

Clock time

AM and PM are not used in Swedish, but rather the 24-hour clock.
If you want to say 1 AM you should say "klockan ett", which means "the clock one". And "It is 1 AM" is "Klockan är ett" which literally means "The clock is one".
Consequently, if you want to express 1 PM you should say "Klockan tretton" which means "Clock thirteen". "It is 1 PM" is "Klockan är tretton", meaning "The clock is thirteen". However, most Swedes take the easy way out and say "Klockan är ett" assuming that the person they talk to understands if they're referring to AM or PM.

What time is it?

Vad är klockan? (Vahd ahr clockan)

one o'clock AM

Klockan 1 (Clockan ett)

two o'clock AM

Klockan 2 (Clockan tfoo)

noon

eftermiddag (after meedagh)

one o'clock PM

Klockan 13 (Clockan traahtoon)

two o'clock PM

Klockan 14 (Clockan fioortoon)

midnight

Midnatt (Meed nat)

quarter to _____

Kvart i _____(qvahrt ee)

"Half past" is not used in Swedish. Instead, the half hours expressed are halves of the coming hour, so 1:30 becomes "half two".

1;30 pm

Halv två (hahlv tvoo)

Duration

_____ minute/minutes (ago)

_____ minut/minuter (sedan) (meenoot/meenootar (sahdahn))

_____ hour/hours (ago)

_____ timme/timmar (sedan) (teemah/teemahr (sahdahn))

_____ day/days (ago)

_____ dag/dagar (sedan) (daag/daagahr (sahdahn))

_____ week/weeks (ago)

_____ vecka/veckor (sedan) (vacka/vackor (sahdahn))

_____ month/months (ago)

_____ månad/månader (moonad/moonadar (sahdahn))

_____ year/years (ago)

_____ år/år (sedan) (ohr/ohr (sahdahn))

Days

today

idag (ee dag)

tonight

inatt (ee nat)

yesterday

igår (ee goor)

yesternight

igår natt (ee goor nat)

the day before yesterday

i förrgår (ee fur goor)

tomorrow

imorgon (ee moor goon)

the day after tomorrow

i övermorgon (ee uh vahr moorgoon)

this week

denna vecka (dehn a vecka)

last week

förra veckan (fur a veckan)

next week

nästa vecka (nesta vecka)

Please note that the first day in week in Sweden is Monday, not Sunday.

Except for the big cities, this will draw a blank stare from the waiter. Most Swedes are aware that pork is not kosher, but apart from that, almost all non-Jewish Swedes would not have any idea about kosher rules. Jews constitute roughly 0.15% of the Swedish population, and outside the big cites the great majority of Swedes have never met a Jew.